Violation of Section 144: Kejriwal seeks Jail, Not Bail

TNI Bureau: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founder Arvind Kejriwal sought jail, not bail in Coalgate scam protests case, saying he will respect court’s order. The court has summoned him and his associates for breaching section 144 during the protests outside the residence of Sonia Gandhi and PM’s house in August 2012.

Kejriwal and his associates Kumar Vishwas, Manish Sisodia and Prashant Bhushan have been summoned by the court under sections relating to rioting, unlawful assembly and obstructing public servants in discharge of their duty.

Kejriwal and his supporters had gheraoed the residence of Sonia Gandhi, PM, and Nitin Gadkari on August 26, 2012. They were protesting against coal allocation scam. Kejriwal claimed that the protest was peaceful, but police resorted to lathicharge suddenly. They used tear gas, water cannons and imposed section 144.

He said that there was no reason to impose section 144 as their protest was peaceful. He lashed out the government, saying “You cannot restrict the movement of people and violate fundamental rights. So today in the court we will confess that we broke section 144 because we feel according to Supreme Court judgments section 144 cannot be used or misused by the police arbitrarily. There has to be some very grave circumstance for which it can be used. Now, it has become almost a daily routine for the police to impose second 144 for protecting so called VIPs,”